Smooth transition

Building on the operational readiness of the Olympic Games, Beijing 2022 organizers and volunteers have tailored facilities and services to ensure all Paralympic participants, especially wheelchair users, enjoy a smooth and convenient stay at the athletes' villages and competition venues.

For instance, at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, the snowboard cross track used for the Olympics has had its total length shortened by about 200 meters to accommodate the para riders.

A new course for the other snowboarding event-banked slalom-was built over just five days on an Olympic Games training course. It features a mild drop that suits the competition format at the Paralympics.

Meticulous and far-sighted planning ensured the transition took place efficiently and quickly, according to Wang Shitong, deputy manager of the venue operation team.

"Knowing that the temperature will rise gradually in March, compared to the coldest period during the Olympics, we've stored artificial snow in excess of 80,000 cubic meters. It helped a lot to reshape and rebuild the slopes for the Paralympics without having to make snow from scratch," he said.

In Beijing, adjustments have also been made to venues such as the National Indoor Stadium, which will host para ice hockey. The stadium's operation team made the ice surface thicker than that used at the Olympics to stabilize the movement of para players seated on double-blade sleds, instead of skates. Dasher boards have been replaced by transparent barriers in front of the team seats so that players can watch from their seated positions.

Artificial ice has been used to pave the routes connecting locker rooms to the competition rink for athletes to slide back and forth on their sleds. Ramps for wheelchairs and accessible seats have been installed wherever needed, just as at the other ice sports venue-the National Aquatics Center, aka the Ice Cube, which will host wheelchair curling.